Promoting Democracy in the Arab World

A Tocqueville Program Talk

Description
Should the United States try to promote democracy in the Arab world? Do we know how to do so effectively, when extremists may take advantage of any political opening? Abrams argues that we should, and can, if top-level officials engage and are willing to face down opposition from regimes whose main interest is remaining in power.

About Elliott Abrams
Elliott Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. He served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor in the Administration of President George W. Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the White House.

Mr. Abrams was educated at Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School. After serving on the staffs of Sen. Henry M. Jackson and Daniel P. Moynihan, he was an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan Administration. Mr. Abrams was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., from 1996 until joining the White House staff in 2001.

Mr. Abrams is a member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy. He teaches U.S. foreign policy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. His latest book, Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab Spring, was published in September 2017.